2 Swedish journalists detained in southeast Turkey: report

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Istanbul, Nov 19, 2016 (AFP) – Police on Saturday detained two Swedish TV journalists in the sensitive Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey after they filmed near a military zone, a local news agency reported.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT however reported that journalists Stefan Asberg and Niclas Berglund, had been questioned, but not detained, as they were reporting in southeastern Turkey.

The pair are on their way back to their base in Istanbul, it said.

The private Dogan news agency earlier reported that the journalists were arrested after they filmed in an area near where a military headquarters is located.

After questioning, the two were transferred to the foreigners department, a section of the police service that deals with deportations, Dogan reported without providing other details.

But SVT’s foreign news editor Ingrid Thornqvist said on the company’s website that the situation was calm and the pair were on their way back to their homes in Istanbul.

“This is something that not only happens to our journalists, it’s an everyday (occurrence) there now; they have been able to continue their work,” Thornqvist said.

“The situation is calm and they are on their way home.”

Turkish authorities this month expelled a French reporter after being detained near the Syrian border in the southeast.

Olivier Bertrand from online news media Les Jours was detained in Gaziantep province, where he was working on planned stories on post-coup Turkey.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called his detention “deeply shocking, unacceptable”.

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